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Friday, July 15, 2011

One Recipe, Multiple Meals

I was recently sent a package of Knorr's new concentrated Homestyle Stock to sample and review.

Let me tell you how convenient this product is. The containers are so cute and little! Below is a picture of a container of the stock next to a normal size container of yogurt.

See how little it is? Would you believe that small container will make 3 cups of chicken stock? It will! The size is so much easier to store than a can or carton of stock because it takes up so much less room! I have them stored in my spice cabinet right next to my stove.

These concentrated stocks come in beef and chicken flavor. I thought it was cute that the chicken flavor has a cute freehand chicken drawn on the top.

Right now, Blogher and Knorr are holding a contest and the winner gets a trip to BlogHer 2011. To enter you have to submit a recipe that uses the new concentrated chicken stock.

I thought, "I can do this."

Then I remembered that I cook from recipes, not from scratch. In fact, there are very, very few things I make to eat that I have come up with all on my own.

I decided to go with something super easy, roasted chicken.

I didn't even know how to make roasted chicken myself until I was almost 30 years old! My friend gave me the easy peasy directions, and I haven't looked back since.

You may be asking how I'll be using concentrated stock for a roasted chicken. Keep reading and you'll see.

Then you stuff the celery into the chicken's cavity, including his neck hole (making sure you removed the innards bag). You also want to stuff the garlic cloves and four pats of the butter intermittently with the celery.

Once you're done with that, you want to take a small bowl and mix the concentrated stock with the spices to form a paste like substance. Brush this all over the outside of the chicken. In all honesty, I don't measure the spices I use. I just sprinkle until I feel that it's enough. I'd say about two teapoons of each. Once you've brushed the mixture over the chicken, tuck the remaining four pats of butter into the chicken's wing and leg folds as shown above. I also smoosh two pats under the chicken's skin over the breasts to help keep them nice and juicy. I usually then give a final Lawry's sprinkle over the chicken once more before placing it into a 350° F oven for 2-2.5 hours depending on weight.

Normally I would have a finished product picture here, but it's gone missing from my files and I don't know where it is! Instead, enjoy a shot of the complete meal I served for dinner: chicken, peas, and chicken flavored rice.

A 5-7lb fryer feeds our family of 6 and provides plenty of leftover chicken.

Here's the best part of the meal. Once the chicken has cooked enough for you to handle it, remove all the leftover meat from the bones and place it into a container. I also dump the celery and garlic cloves in as well.

Then you're left with all the yummy juices, butter, broth in the bottom of the pan.

Just pour that into the container as well.

Here's where you get additional meals from the one chicken. You can take the leftovers and make chicken salad or Chicken Pot Pie (if you do this, use just the meat and toss out the liquid), or like we do, freeze the leftovers until it's a little cooler and then use it for Chicken Noodle Soup!

This is so versatile and flavorful! If you choose to make this recipe, I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Oven Roasted Chicken

serves 4-6 with leftovers

Ingredients

one whole chicken fryer 5-7 lbs (depending on family size)

3-5 ribs of celery (depending on chicken size)

3-5 garlic whole cloves

one stick of butter

2t of onion powder

2t of garlic powder

2t Lawry's Seasoned Salt

1 tub Knorr Concentrated Chicken Stock

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F

Cut the celery into bite sized pieces

Cut the butter into 8-10 pats

Remove the innards bag from the chicken (if applicable) and rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry

Stuff chicken with the celery, garlic, and 4 butter pats, making sure to stuff the neck hole as well

Place 2 pats of butter under the chicken skin directly over the breasts

In a separate bowl, combine seasonings and Knorr Concentrated stock

Brush seasoning mixture over all sides of chicken

Tuck 4 pats of butter in leg and wing folds

Sprinkle a last bit of Lawry's over the whole chicken

Cover with foil and cook at 350°F for 2-2.5 hours depending on chicken size

Enjoy with sides of your choosing

Use leftovers as desired

Disclaimer: I was given a pack of Knorr Concentrated Stock for review. By posting this recipe, I have been entered to win a trip to BlogHer 2011. No other compensation was offered or accepted. All opinions are mine and are honest and true.